The Pro Kabaddi points system, explained with the numbers

The short answer: a Pro Kabaddi win is worth five points, a tie three, and a defeat by seven points or fewer earns one bonus point. On the mat, raids and tackles score a point each, an all out is worth two, and a super tackle two.

Kabaddi is easy to enjoy without knowing the rules and much easier to follow with them. There are two scoring systems running simultaneously — points on the mat, and league points in the table — and separating them is the key to understanding why teams do what they do.

League table points

Outcome	League points
Win	5
Tie	3
Loss by 7 points or fewer	1 (bonus point)
Loss by 8 points or more	0

That bonus point for a narrow defeat is the detail that shapes the last five minutes of half the matches in a season. A side trailing by nine with two minutes left is not playing for a win — it is playing to get within seven.

You will see teams take enormous raiding risks in that window: sending a raider deep when the sensible play is a bonus, going for a multi-point raid with three men on the mat. It looks like desperation. It is arithmetic. That single league point decides playoff qualification more often than any individual victory does.

It also produces the reverse behaviour from the leading side. A team eight points up with ninety seconds left will deliberately stop scoring — sending in raiders who cross the line and come straight back — because extending the lead is worthless and any risk that lets the opponent within seven hands over a free point.

Scoring on the mat

Event	Points
Raid touch (per defender touched)	1
Bonus line crossed	1
Successful tackle	1
Super tackle (3 or fewer defenders on the mat)	2
All-out	2
Technical point (out of bounds, lobby violation, etc.)	1

A Super Raid is a raid producing three or more points in a single entry. It is a named achievement rather than a bonus — the points come from the touches themselves, not from an extra award.

How a raid actually scores

A raider entering the opposition half scores one point for every defender he touches and returns safely past the midline. Touch three and get back and that is three points — and, crucially, three defenders sent off the mat.

That second half matters more than the first. Points win matches on the scoreboard, but bodies off the mat win all-outs, and all-outs are where matches actually swing.

A raider who scores one point but removes a corner defender has often done more for his team than one who scores two by touching two ins. The corner is the harder player to replace and the more valuable to have absent.

The bonus line

The bonus point is only available when the defending side has six or more players on the mat. The raider must cross the bonus line with one foot in the air and the other beyond it, and it banks a point even if he is subsequently tackled.

The six-player condition is the important constraint. As the defence is depleted, the bonus disappears — which is exactly when a raider most wants a low-risk scoring option. The rule deliberately removes the safe choice at the moment the defence is most vulnerable, forcing the raider to earn it.

This is why the bonus is the percentage play on a do-or-die raid against a full defence: it scores, it resets the raid count, and it carries far less risk than going deep.

The do-or-die raid

If a team completes two consecutive empty raids — raids producing no point — the third is do-or-die. Score, or the raider is out and the opposition takes a point.

The rule exists to stop a leading team running the clock down with meaningless raids. Without it, kabaddi would have the same stalling problem that afflicts every sport with a clock and no shot requirement.

Good defensive units do not merely survive empty raids; they engineer them. The tactic is to stand well back, refuse to engage, and give the raider nothing to touch. An empty raid costs the defence nothing and pushes the raid count up. By the third raid the defence knows the raider must commit, knows roughly where he prefers to attack, and has had two raids to set its shape without pressure.

All-outs and match structure

Element	Number
Players per side on the mat	7
Squad size on the team sheet	12
Halves	2 × 20 minutes
Half-time break	5 minutes
Maximum raid duration	30 seconds
All-out bonus	2 points

Clear the entire opposition of players and your side takes two additional points, and everyone returns to the mat. A team can be all-out twice in a half and still win, but rarely does — each all-out is effectively a four- to six-point swing once you count the raid points that produced it plus the two-point bonus.

Why teams manage numbers, not points

The single most common misreading of kabaddi is treating it as a points race. It is a numbers game.

A side with two men on the mat is in acute danger regardless of the score, because the next successful raid ends the sequence and hands over two more points plus the reset. A side with seven men and a five-point deficit is in a far better position than a side with two men and a five-point lead.

This is why you will see a leading team send in a raider with instructions to do nothing but survive. An empty raid costs nothing when your numbers are healthy, and every time the opposition raider is caught, one of your players is revived.

Revival — the mechanic nobody explains

Players return to the mat on a one-for-one basis: each point your team scores revives one player who was out, in the order they were eliminated.

This is the engine of the whole sport. It means momentum is self-reinforcing — a team that starts scoring gets its bodies back, which makes it harder to raid against, which makes it score more. It also means a single Super Raid against a depleted side can flip a match completely, reviving three players at once.

Quick reference

• Win 5, tie 3, narrow loss 1, heavy loss 0
• A “narrow” loss is by 7 points or fewer
• Raid touch, tackle, bonus and technical points are worth 1 each
• Super tackle and all-out are worth 2
• Bonus requires 6+ defenders on the mat
• Two empty raids trigger do-or-die on the third
• Every point revives one eliminated teammate